


Rescue Run

by Ellimac



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, episode: bubbled
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 02:06:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7739293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellimac/pseuds/Ellimac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven and the gems rescue the Rubies from space.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rescue Run

“We gotta go back for the Rubies.”

Pearl, steering the ship, turned to look at Steven in shock. “What? _Why_? Didn’t you say Eyeball tried to kill you?”

Steven shook his head. “She did, but… she didn’t know any better. She thinks I’m Rose Quartz, and she’s… she’s really mad. But I don’t think she’d be so angry if she just knew the truth. Besides,” he added, “the others don’t want to hurt us.”

“They formed a giant Ruby to try to kill us,” Amethyst said, her voice deadpan. “Twice.”

“Yeah, but—but they don’t know! If they understood what the Earth was really all about—if they knew why Rose sh—did what she did—”

Pearl shared a skeptical look with Amethyst. Steven turned to Garnet. Her arms were crossed, but she didn’t look angry.

“Garnet, please,” Steven said. “We can’t just let them drift out in space forever. Don’t you want to save your fellow Rubies?”

Garnet didn’t say anything for a long time. Pearl and Amethyst looked at her, waiting for a verdict.

Finally, she sighed. “He’s right,” she said. “If we let them drift out in space, that’s no better than what Homeworld would do. Besides,” she added, looking at Pearl, “we can’t risk even one of them getting back to Homeworld. They can’t know what happened to Jasper.”

Pearl sighed. “If you say so, Garnet.”

Steven peered over her shoulder. “How will we find them?”

“The same way we found you,” Pearl said. “This ship has a tracking system. It took us a while to figure out how to get it working—”

“It took _you_ a while,” Amethyst said. “Until you let _me_ at it.”

“Oh, you only figured it out because I got it most of the way working,” Pearl retorted. But she smiled, and put her fingers to the screen. Then she frowned.

“They’re pretty spread out,” she said. “It might take us a while to collect them all.”

“Which one’s closest? Can you tell?”

Pearl shook her head. “All I can tell is that they’re Rubies. The nearest one is here.” She pointed at the screen, which showed five small dots floating in various directions around a bigger dot, which Steven assumed represented the ship. They didn’t look that far away on the screen.

“How long will it take us to get to her?”

“I don’t know, Steven,” Pearl said with a sigh. “At the rate we’re traveling, we should reach that location within a few minutes. The trouble is, the Rubies are moving through space, too. By the time we get there, she might be somewhere else entirely.”

“Oh.” Steven slumped against the chair, disappointed. “I hope they appreciate this.”

It took them almost ten minutes to collect the first Ruby, who turned out to be Leggy. Steven caught her as she tumbled into the ship. She rubbed her head, eyes closed as she got to her feet.

“Wow, thanks for rescuing me,” she said. “I thought I’d be stuck out there forever. Hey, how did you guys get back on the ship, anyway?”

She looked around. Her eyes widened as she took in her surroundings.

“You’re not my platoon,” she said.

“We’re working on it,” Steven said. “Can you just go… sit in the corner for now? We’ve got four more Rubies to rescue.”

“Okay.” Leggy went to the nearest wall and sat with her back to it, resting her chin on her knees.

“Where’s the next one?”

“Approximately a minute away,” Pearl reported.

“Which means it’ll take us at least five minutes to get to her,” Amethyst said, rolling her eyes. “Garnet, are you sure this was a good idea?”

Garnet glanced at Steven. Her glasses were on, so he couldn’t read her expression, but he thought he saw the faintest smile on her face. “I’m positive.”

The next one on board was Navy, and despite Amethyst’s prediction, they managed to get her within three minutes. She, took, tumbled ungracefully into the ship, though she managed to turn it into a somersault that ended with her on her feet.

“You saved me,” she said. Then, like Leggy, she looked around and seemed to realize that she wasn’t surrounded by Rubies. She started to blush, and her hands went to her face. “Oh, no…”

“We’re not going to hurt you,” Steven said.

But she didn’t seem to be listening. She fled to the corner and crouched against the wall next to Leggy, who put a hand on her back.

“Okay,” Steven said. “Next?”

“I estimate it’ll take us about fifteen minutes to get the next one,” Pearl said. “They just keep getting farther away.” She sighed. “Well, that’s two down, three to go.”

Eighteen minutes later, after Amethyst had rolled onto the floor and was lying there moaning about being bored, they reached the next Ruby. This one turned out to be Doc.

“What are you three doing aboard my ship?” she shouted, as soon as she was back on her feet. She pointed accusingly at the Gems. “First you trick us, _then_ you knock us out of the airlock, and now I find you’ve stolen our ship! This is the last straw! Rubies, assemble!”

Dutifully, Leggy and Navy got up and assumed their positions in the fusion. But no giant Ruby formed, and Doc, for the first time, seemed to realize that something was wrong.

“Wait a minute,” she said, squinting suspiciously. “Where’s the rest of us? Aren’t there usually five?”

“Yeah, and there’s _four_ of us,” Amethyst pointed out. “And only three—uh, two of you.” She winked at Steven.

Pearl frowned. “But there’s—”

Garnet put her hand on Pearl’s shoulder. “Amethyst’s right,” she said. “The Rubies are outnumbered. Four to two.”

Doc stared at her, then at Amethyst, who nodded. She turned and did a quick count, and for a moment it looked like she believed them. But then she remembered, and pointed to herself, counting to three.

She turned back to the gems. “You’re lying! We’re not outnumbered! And we can still fuse even without Ruby or Ruby!”

“Uh, four’s still more than three,” Amethyst said.

That gave her a pause, and she counted on her fingers. Her face crumpled. “Oh, yeah. I guess it is.”

“Do you mind just waiting quietly in the corner while we rescue Army and Eyeball?” Steven said. “We’re kinda on a deadline here.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re rescuing us? Why?”

“Because otherwise, you’d just be drifting out in space forever,” Steven said. “Besides, it’s what Crystal Gems do. Right?” He looked up at Garnet.

“Right,” she said.

Doc crossed her arms. “Fine,” she said. “But you’ll regret it when you’ve rescued all of us.”

She sat against the wall, and after a moment, Leggy and Navy went to join her. In the silence that followed, Navy piped up with, “Where’s that blue human?”

Amethyst started to laugh. “You mean Lapis? She’s not a human, dude. She’s a gem just like us. And she’s back on Earth. Why do you want to know? Do you have a _crush_?”

Navy turned dark red. “No! Why would I want to crush her? She’s pretty and smart and strong and—”

Doc punched her in the arm. “Be quiet! We can’t have you spilling all our secrets!”

Amethyst giggled. “I’m totally telling Lapis.”

Navy rubbed her arm and hunched over, still blushing. “I’m—I’m not saying anything else.”

“That’s fine,” Pearl said. “We’re on course for the next one. ETA is twenty minutes.”

“Jeez, I just wanna go _home_ ,” Amethyst said, flopping back down on the floor.

Steven put a hand over his gem. “Me, too. But we have to do this.”

Surprisingly, it only took nineteen minutes to reach the next Ruby—Army. Steven felt his stomach unclench as he realized that he had truly been dreading it would be Eyeball, and clench again as he realized that she was the only one left out there.

Army, once she was upright, made a run for Steven. But like on Earth, Garnet simply picked her up and tucked her under her arm.

“Can’t you tell her to calm down?” Steven said to Doc.

She gave him a venomous stare, but said, “Stand down, soldier.” Army slowly stopped kicking and punching at air.

“Only one left,” Garnet said. She looked at Steven, who looked back up at her and nodded. Garnet turned to Pearl, who seemed to have been waiting for confirmation, because she nodded too, and turned back to the screen.

“She’s drifted pretty far away,” she said. “It’s going to take us a while to reach her. The ship says we’ll reach her current location within half an hour.”

That meant it would take even longer to really reach her. Steven felt his stomach rumble and sighed. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

With four Rubies on board, and nobody saying much to each other, the next several minutes passed in agonizing silence. The one time Steven tried to talk to the Rubies, Doc growled at him until he stopped. Navy waved at him, then blushed and stopped, and Leggy seemed distracted by the ship’s ceiling. Army was still tucked under Garnet’s arm, though she hadn’t struggled since Doc told her to stop.

After about twenty minutes of silence, Steven coughed and said, “Does anyone want to play twenty questions or something?”

“How do you play?” Navy said, perking up, but Doc glared at her and she shrank back again.

“We’re not playing any games,” Doc growled. “We won’t be tricked again.”

“Twenty questions isn’t a trick game,” Amethyst said, rolling over onto her stomach. “One of us thinks of something, and the others get to ask twenty yes-or-no questions to figure out what that thing is. If we get it, we win. If we don’t, you win.”

Doc squinted. She seemed to be trying to figure out if this somehow was a trap. It was fair for her to be suspicious, after all the times the gems had tricked her, but Steven tried to look as honest as possible. It wasn’t hard, since he actually wasn’t planning a trick this time.

“Okay,” Doc said at last. “We’ll play. But _I_ want to go first.”

“Fine by me,” Amethyst said. “Tell us when you’re ready.”

Doc glared at her. “I’m ready.”

Amethyst raised her hand. “Can I ask the first question?”

“You just did.”

“That doesn’t count,” Amethyst said. “Anyway. The thing you’re thinking of. Is it a Ruby?”

Doc’s eyes narrowed. “You _said_ this wasn’t a trick game.”

“It is!” Amethyst punched the air. “I knew it. You guys are so predictable.”

“Fine,” Doc said. “If you think _you’re_ so smart, _you_ go next.”

“Fine by me,” Amethyst said, and closed her eyes. “Okay. Got it.”

“Is it an Amethyst?” Doc said, with savage glee.

But Amethyst laughed. “Nope.”

Steven raised his hand. “I have a guess.” He turned to Amethyst. “Is it… food?”

Amethyst opened one eye to look at him. “Yeah, but you’ll have to be more specific than that if you wanna win. That’s two questions down, by the way.”

“Is it a sandwich?” Steven said.

Amethyst snapped her finger. “ _Darn_. That was too easy.”

“What’s a sandwich?” Navy said.

Doc hit her arm again. “Stop socializing with them! They’re the _enemy_ , remember?”

“We did rescue you,” Steven pointed out.

Doc glared at him and crossed her arms. “Well… you’re still the enemy.”

“Are we still playing twenty questions?” Leggy asked, surprising Steven. He hadn’t thought she’d been paying attention at all.

“Sure,” he said. “You can go next if you want.”

They passed the next several minutes playing twenty questions. Even Doc got involved, though her answers were never much harder to guess than the first one. And after twenty minutes, Pearl quietly interrupted her fifth round in a row by saying, “We’ve found her.”

Steven stiffened. He’d started to have fun with the Rubies, forgetting why they were still out here, and who they still had to rescue. He ran over to look over Pearl’s shoulder and saw her: Eyeball, floating in front of the ship, eye closed and mouth open, apparently unconscious.

He swallowed. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s bring her in.”

This time, Garnet stood by the door to catch her. To Steven’s relief, she really was unconscious, and stayed that way as Garnet laid her gently on the floor.

For the first time, Doc showed an emotion other than anger. She ran over to Eyeball and touched her forehead. “Is she going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Garnet said. “She was floating out there for a long time. She’ll just need some time to recover.”

Steven stared at her. He could see his reflection in her gem. It gave him an eerie feeling that she was looking at him, even if she was unconscious.

Finally, he turned away and closed his eyes. “Let’s go home.”

\--

The trip back home didn’t take nearly as long as finding all the Rubies had, mainly because the Earth was a planet rather than a small gem floating aimlessly through space. Pearl was even able to set them down by the barn, almost exactly where they had taken off.

Peridot and Lapis were waiting when Steven climbed out of the ship. Behind him came Garnet, carrying Army, then Doc and Leggy being shepherded along by Pearl, then Amethyst carrying Eyeball and leading Navy along by the hand. She needn’t have worried about Navy making a break for it, though, because as soon as she saw Lapis, she put her hands over her face and crouched in embarrassment.

“Ohmygosh,” Peridot said. “You were gone for so long! What… happened? Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine,” Steven said. “The Rubies got blown out into space and I… kind of did too. We had to rescue them all.”

Peridot furrowed her brow. “Why?”

“Because it was the right thing to do,” Steven said firmly. “Oh, uh, Lapis, I think Navy has something to say to you.”

“No I don’t!” Navy wailed, from her position cowering under the ship.

Amethyst cupped her free hand around her mouth and stage-whispered, “She _likes_ you.”

“Oh,” Lapis said. She looked at Navy, expressionless. Navy peeked between her fingers, then ducked behind them again.

“I think you’re beautiful!” she yelled, and then curled into as small a ball as she could manage.

“Where are they going to stay?” Peridot said. “They can’t stay with us. We already redecorated the barn how we like it.” She seemed to notice Eyeball, still unconscious in Amethyst’s arms, for the first time. “And what happened to that one?”

“She…” Steven began, then stopped, at a loss for how to explain it. As much as Eyeball scared him, he didn’t want any of the others to bear a grudge against her. If she was going to stay on Earth, they had to be nice to her. They couldn’t have another Jasper.

Fortunately, Garnet took up the narrative. “She was in space for longer than the others. We think the strain of the vacuum got to her. She’ll wake up soon.”

Amethyst laid her gently down on the grass. Steven edged away, but Eyeball showed no signs of regaining consciousness anytime soon.

“All right, listen up,” Doc said, trying to sound authoritative while Pearl still gripped her shoulder. “Now that we’re back on Earth, you guys are our prisoners. You hear me? Our prisoners! So line up while we inspect you!”

“No,” Lapis said.

“Yeah, if anyone’s prisoner here, it’s you,” Amethyst said. “We’re not afraid of you.”

Doc scowled. “Rubies! Assemble!”

But this time, Garnet didn’t loosen her grip on Army, and Navy, though she made an effort to exit her hiding place, only took one look at Lapis’s face before squeaking and ducking back under. Eyeball, of course, was still unconscious, and Pearl’s grip on Leggy was just as strong as it was on Doc. Nobody assembled.

“Sorry, boss,” Navy mumbled from underneath the ship. “I just can’t do it.”

“Ugh!” Doc kicked the ground. “You’re all useless! Fine. We’ll stay here as your prisoners… _for now_. But you better watch out, because we’re going to make your escape when you least expect it!” She pointed at each of the gems in turn. “You’ve been warned.”

She stalked into the barn. Peridot, alarmed, said, “Hey! She can’t go in there!” and ran after her. Lapis watched her go, then shrugged and went to sit under the ship with Navy.

“Doesn’t warning us kind of defeat the point of escaping unexpectedly?” Amethyst said.

“Yes,” Pearl said, staring after Doc. “It does.”

“Navy and Doc can stay in the barn,” Garnet said. “Army and Leggy are coming back to the temple with us. Eyeball…” She hesitated, the authority draining out of her voice. Finally, she turned to Steven. “Steven. Where would you be most comfortable with Eyeball staying?”

Steven hesitated. Now that they were back on Earth, he was beginning to regret rescuing her. But it was what Rose Quartz would have done, wasn’t it?

He clutched his gem. Once, he had been sure that the answer to that would be yes.

His stomach growled, saving him from having to answer. “I’ve gotta eat,” he said. “You guys can… decide what to do without me.”

Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst shared a look, but none of them tried to stop Steven as he made for the warp pad.

He was in the kitchen, halfway through making a sandwich, when the warp pad glowed again, and Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst appeared. Leggy was clinging to Garnet’s leg, but Army was nowhere to be seen.

“We thought you might need a break from Rubies trying to fight you,” Garnet said, before Steven could ask for an explanation. “We brought Leggy because she promised to behave. Lapis is… entertaining Army.”

Amethyst giggled. Steven decided not to ask for details.

Pearl came over to Steven and put her hand on his shoulder. “Steven… are you okay? You’ve had a pretty rough day…”

“I’m fine,” Steven said. “I’m just hungry.”

It wasn’t quite true. He had a lot to process. But hopefully, knowing the Rubies were safe, and knowing that the gems would protect him if Eyeball woke up, he would be able to sleep tonight.

“If you…” Pearl hesitated. “If you want to talk about it… about anything…”

Steven hesitated. He did want to talk about it—about his mom, about Pink Diamond, about why she had done it, about what Pearl had thought, what Pearl had _said_ … had she argued against it? Had Garnet? Or had they known, like Rose had, that it was the only way forward? And Rose… how had she felt about it, afterward? How had she felt, knowing she had to do it? Had she tried to find other solutions? Had she done everything she could to avoid it…?

But Steven shook his head. “Maybe later. Right now I… I need to eat.”

He finished making his sandwich in silence. Pearl stood by him the whole time, not saying a word, though he was grateful for her presence. Amethyst, meanwhile, was teaching Leggy how to play pat-a-cake. It was a quiet evening in the temple—exactly what Steven needed, after a day like today.

After he finished his sandwich (and the one he made after that), he looked at Leggy, who seemed perfectly content where she was. He had deemed her the easiest to talk to, and she certainly seemed it, especially away from Doc. It made it easy to forget, or at least put out of his mind, the fact that there were more Rubies, and not all of them were as nice as Leggy.

He yawned and glanced outside. It was fully dark now, and now that he was full, the fatigue from the day’s events was starting to catch up with him. “I’m going to bed,” he said. “We can figure out what to do with the Rubies in the morning.”

“I want to stay here,” Leggy piped up. “Amethyst is teaching me how to be like a human. I’ll blend in perfectly. No one will ever know.”

Steven looked at her. Small, red, roughly square-shaped, with an obvious gem on her leg. Nothing about her looked remotely human enough to fool an Earthling.

“Yeah,” he said. “You’re doing great.”

He fell into bed without bothering to brush his teeth, which ordinarily would result in Pearl waking him up later to make sure he did. But this time, either she sensed that he really needed the rest, or perhaps Garnet held her back, because Steven slept dreamlessly and deeply throughout the whole night.

\--

Morning brought with it a brilliant sunbeam, right across Steven’s face. He opened his eyes slowly, uncertain of what he would see. But his room, as far as he could tell, was entirely normal. There weren’t even any Crystal Gems in it.

He sat up. “Garnet?” he said. “Amethyst? Pearl?” After a pause, he added, “Leggy?”

But there was no response. They must all be outside. He threw off the covers, realized he’d slept in his clothes, and went to change into something fresh before going out to look.

He found them, unsurprisingly, by the barn. Lapis and Navy were deep in conversation, more animated than Steven had ever seen either of them. Garnet was holding Army again, and Army seemed to have accepted her fate, as she wasn’t struggling at all. Pearl was sitting and talking with Leggy, while Amethyst leaned against the barn and chatted with Peridot. Doc and Eyeball were nowhere to be seen.

Peridot was the first to see him. “Oh! Steven! Good morning. We were hoping you’d show up.”

“Hi,” Steven said. “Um… where’s Doc and Eyeball?”

Peridot jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “They’re in the barn. Eyeball hasn’t woken up yet. Doc’s worried about her or something.”

Of course Doc would be worried about her. Steven remembered how she had reacted when Eyeball first came aboard the ship, unconscious. It must be scary, having a member of your crew in that state. He remembered how he had felt before Lapis had woken up after the gems brought her back. Was it anything like that for Doc?

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Garnet. “Would you like to see them?” she said. “I’ll come with you.”

He hesitated a moment, then nodded. Doc wasn’t scary, he reminded himself. Doc hadn’t tried to kill him. Well… she hadn’t tried to kill him more than twice.

Garnet left Army in the care of Pearl and Leggy and walked with Steven into the barn. It was comforting to have her hand on his shoulder, reminding him that no matter what happened, she was by his side.

But he needn’t have worried. Doc didn’t even look at him when they entered the barn. She was sitting on her knees next to Eyeball, her hands folded in front of her. The expression on her face reminded Steven strongly of Pearl, when she was at her most motherly.

She looked up as Steven and Garnet approached, but her expression didn’t change. She wasn’t angry, or hurt—just sad.

“I thought she’d have woken up by now,” she said. “Are you sure she’s going to?”

“Positive,” Garnet said quietly. “And she’ll need you around when she does.”

Doc looked back at Eyeball and sighed. “She’s older than me, you know. But Blue Diamond felt that she was too violent to command a platoon.”

“Oh,” Steven said. It was the only thing he could think to say that probably wouldn’t offend her.

“She’s right, of course. She’s a Diamond. She’s always right.” Doc looked up at the ceiling. “I hope she’s doing okay without us.”

Garnet crouched down next to her and put a hand on her head. “I wouldn’t worry about how Blue Diamond’s doing. Focus on yourself. Now that you’re here, you get to decide what to do next.”

Doc looked at her for a long moment. Steven thought he saw a flash of anger in her eyes, but it dissipated before he could react, and she turned back to Eyeball.

“I’m going to sit here until she wakes up,” Doc said. “That’s what I’m going to do next.”

Garnet nodded. “We’ll leave you alone. Are you going to be all right?”

Doc nodded. “As soon as she wakes up.”

Steven hesitated, but Garnet put a firm hand on his shoulder and led him back out of the barn. She stopped, though, before they rejoined the others, and crouched down again.

“It’s important that she decide to do what _she_ wants,” Garnet said quietly. “We can’t force her to do anything. It’ll only make her want to fight us.”

Steven looked down. “I know. I just wish there was something we could do.”

“All we can do is wait.”

Steven looked up at her. “Can’t you show me what’s going to happen? With future vision?”

Garnet smiled. “I don’t know what’s going to happen all the time, Steven. There are too many possibilities.”

“But what’s the most likely one?” Steven pressed.

“I don’t know, Steven.” Garnet petted his hair. “It’s too early to tell. Come on,” she added, getting to her feet. “Let’s go and join the others.”

Though they had only been gone a few minutes, the situation had changed drastically by the time they returned. Lapis, with Navy clinging to her leg, had Army in a water bubble; Pearl and Amethyst were arguing about something; and Peridot was trying to entertain Leggy with her metal powers, which, oddly enough, seemed to be working.

“What happened?” Steven said.

“Oh, hi, Steven,” Lapis said. “Army tried to persuade Leggy to attack us, which was fun for a while, but after Army started chewing on Pearl’s leg, I decided it was time to stop.”

“You could have stopped it sooner,” Pearl snapped, rubbing her leg.

Lapis smiled smugly. “I guess I could have.”

“You can let her down now,” Garnet said. “I’ll take care of her.”

The bubble popped, and Army fell to the ground. She scrambled to her feet. “I’ll fight all of you! I’ll win, too!”

Garnet grabbed her before she could charge anyone and held her up to look her in the eye. “No one is fighting anyone right now. And biting is wrong.”

“That’s right,” Pearl said.

“I thought it was pretty funny,” Amethyst said.

Pearl glared at her. “You wouldn’t if it was _your_ leg she was chewing on.”

So that was what they had been fighting about. Steven decided to change the subject.

“So, uh… guys,” he said. “What’s going to happen to the Rubies? Where are they going to stay?”

“Navy can stay here with me,” Lapis said, earning a giggle and a blush from Navy. Lapis reached down and casually ruffled her hair.

Steven had never seen her so happy. He put his hands to his cheeks. “You guys are so cute together!”

Lapis looked at him and smiled. “Thanks.”

“I want to live with you guys,” Leggy piped up. “If I’m gonna stay here on Earth, I want to live with my friends.”

“We can take Army, too,” Garnet said. “Once she’s… cooled down.”

“I’ll never cool down! You’ll never take me alive!” Army shouted, ineffectually.

“Maybe after Doc has a talk with her,” Garnet added.

“Doc’s not going to leave until Eyeball wakes up,” Steven said. “So I guess Army has to stay here for now.”

Garnet shook her head. “I’ll take care of her. She reminds me a lot of someone I know.” She lowered her glasses and winked her right eye.

Peridot sighed. “I _guess_ the other two can stay here for now. But as soon as Eyeball wakes up, they’re your responsibility.”

“I’m nobody’s responsibility except Ruby’s!” Army yelled. Everyone ignored her.

“Steven, why don’t you get back to the temple and have breakfast,” Garnet said. “Oh, and while you’re at it, you should tell Greg what’s been going on.”

“Oh,” Steven said, realizing as she spoke that he hadn’t spoken to his dad since before he and Amethyst went out on their day off—not much of a day off anything in the end, except the planet. “Okay. Are you guys gonna be okay here?”

“We’re fine,” Pearl said. “We’ve got this Ruby situation under control. Eat something healthy, okay?”

“Okay, Pearl,” Steven said, and waved as he headed back to the temple.

He ate breakfast slowly, mulling over what he should tell his dad. The truth, of course, but last time he went to space and almost died, Greg hadn’t reacted very well. Understandably so, but Steven didn’t want to make him panic. After all, things were fine. He just had to explain the presence of five extra Rubies.

Someone knocked on the door, startling him, but when he turned to look, it was his dad. He smiled. Garnet may say she didn’t know everything, but she sure knew a lot of helpful stuff.

“Hi, Dad,” Steven said.

“Hi,” Greg said, looking around. “Are the gems home? Garnet told me to come here at this exact time…”

Steven shook his head. “They’re all at the barn. She wanted you to talk to me.”

“Oh,” Greg said. “Well, uh… what’s up, kiddo?”

Steven took a deep breath. “Yesterday the Rubies came back and we all went to the moon and the Rubies got sucked out the airlock into space, which was my fault because I opened it, but then I accidentally got sucked into space too and I floated around in a bubble for a while with one of the Rubies and the gems rescued me and then we rescued all the Rubies too and it took a long time, but we’re all back on Earth now and we’re safe and they’re staying.”

There. That about covered the basics. He wasn’t about to tell Greg that one of the Rubies had tried to kill him; he didn’t want him to worry too much. Still, Greg’s expression told him that he was worrying enough already.

“You… went to the moon?” he said.

Steven nodded. “In the Rubies’ ship. They’re all at the barn now, too.”

“Uh… are they… dangerous?”

Steven shook his head, though this wasn’t quite true. “Some of them are really nice. And… one of them’s unconscious.”

“Oh. Why?”

Steven hesitated. “She was floating in space for a long time,” he said. “Gems can survive out there, but I guess it was pretty hard on her. Garnet says she’ll wake up soon.”

“Oh.” Greg paused, and then went to sit on the couch. “That’s pretty… uh, are you sure this is okay, son? They’re from Homeworld, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, but… they’re not so bad. Peridot’s from Homeworld, too, and so is Lapis, and they’re adjusting fine.”

“So is Jasper,” Greg pointed out.

Steven shivered. “Yeah. But she’s… not a threat right now.”

Greg sat up straight. “She’s not?”

Oh. He’d left that part out of the story. “No. Amethyst and I fused and we beat her, and then Peridot poofed her.”

“You fused? With Amethyst?” Greg sank back into the couch. “Wow. Yesterday was a pretty eventful day for you, huh?”

Steven nodded fervently. “I’m just glad to be home.”

Greg put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re home, too, kiddo.”

\--

Eyeball didn’t wake for three days. As far as Steven could tell, Doc didn’t leave her side the entire time. When she finally did wake, Steven was at the barn with the rest of the gems. Leggy and Navy were easy to get along with, though Navy was rarely more than a few feet away from Lapis and giggled at everything she said, and Leggy’s memory was a little spotty at the best of times, not helped by how easily distracted she was. He was even starting to warm up to Army, who seemed to have realized that the only way she would be able to spend any time away from Garnet was to _not_ threaten to kill someone every time she was let down.

The first anyone knew of Eyeball’s awakening was Doc’s shout of glee, loud enough to be heard over all their antics (Steven was teaching Leggy to play jump rope, and she wasn’t very good at it). Steven dropped the rope, leading Leggy to get her feet tangled in it again, and looked toward the barn. Then he looked toward Garnet, who extended her hand. Determined, Steven nodded. He would make things right with Eyeball, or he would die trying.

Well… he probably wouldn’t actually die. Not with Garnet there. But someone might end up poofed.

Hand in hand with Garnet, he approached the barn. When he peeked inside, he was surprised to see Doc and Eyeball hugging. Doc had a smile on her face, which wasn’t too shocking, but so did Eyeball, which almost made Steven think he was dreaming.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Doc said. “Garnet kept saying you were going to be fine, but you kept not waking up…”

“I’m fine,” Eyeball said, her voice rougher than usual. “I’m unstoppable.”

Doc hugged her tighter. “Don’t ever almost die again, okay?”

“I won’t,” Eyeball said. She closed her eye and wrapped her arms tightly around Doc.

Steven gasped. The last time he had seen anyone acting like this, it had been Ruby and Sapphire. Were Doc and Eyeball in love?

Eyeball heard the gasp and opened her eye to stare straight at Steven. Her expression turned to anger, and she pushed away from Doc. “ _You_!”

Steven took a step back as Doc looked around to see what Eyeball was looking at. Eyeball took a step forward, but Doc grabbed her hand.

“Steven rescued us,” she said. “From space.”

“Steven? That’s no Steven!” Eyeball wrenched her hand away from Doc’s. “That’s Rose Quartz! She’s the one who shattered Pink Diamond!”

“I didn’t!” Steven said. Garnet’s hand tightened around his, and Doc made a grab for Eyeball’s hand again. “Please, you have to believe me!”

“Steven wasn’t around when Pink Diamond was shattered,” Garnet said. “He doesn’t remember it. And Doc’s right. He saved you all. He convinced us to go back for you.”

Eyeball wouldn’t be convinced. She pulled her knife from her eye and struggled against Doc’s grip. “I’ll cut out your gem! I’ll take it back to my Diamond and I’ll be a _hero_! I’ll be the one who finally defeated Rose Quartz!”

“Ruby!” Doc said, sounding more like Leggy than herself, her voice high-pitched with panic. She grabbed Eyeball’s wrist with both hands and yanked, pulling Eyeball to the ground. “Don’t do this! That’s an order!”

To Steven’s surprise, Eyeball stopped. She looked at Doc, betrayal etched in her expression, but she stopped. “Why?” she spat. “Why do you want this traitor to live?”

Doc took a deep breath, and when she spoke again, her voice was back to normal. “That’s not Rose Quartz. I’ve been watching these gems closely for the past few cycles, and they mean us no harm. They’ve taken care of us! All of us! You were unconscious for four cycles and they didn’t even _try_ to dissipate your physical form!”

Steven, afraid to say anything lest Eyeball turn her murderous attention back to him, nodded furiously along with everything Doc said.

“They’re still our enemies,” Eyeball said. “And if you side with them, that makes you our enemy too.”

“I’m not your enemy,” Doc said. “I could never be your enemy.”

Her voice cracked when she spoke, and Eyeball’s anger disappeared. She reached up and touched Doc’s face, her expression tender, almost loving. Steven hardly dared to breath lest it disturb the moment and ruin everything.

After a long moment, Eyeball turned away. “Fine,” she muttered. “I don’t trust these gems, but I trust you. And if you say they’re safe, then… I believe you. For now,” she added, shooting Steven a poisonous glare. Steven stepped back, but that seemed to be the only attention Eyeball was willing to give him, for now; she turned back to Doc, who helped her to her feet, then embraced her again.

Garnet gave Steven’s hand a squeeze. “We should give them some time alone,” she whispered, and Steven nodded. As quietly as possible, they tiptoed away, back to the others.

Everyone was waiting for them when they returned. All three remaining Rubies, Army being held back by Amethyst, stood in front, looking anxious.

“Are they okay?” Leggy said. “Is Eyeball okay?” She and Navy had adopted the names Steven had given to them, though Army had refused to use them.

“They’re fine,” Garnet said. She held up her hand as the Rubies made to run forward. “I think we should give them some alone time for now, though.”

“They’re really happy together,” Steven added.

“They’re in _loooove_ ,” Amethyst said.

Steven beamed, and Amethyst laughed in disbelief. “Wait, seriously? I didn’t think I was actually right. Are they?”

“Give them time,” Garnet said. “They haven’t been on Earth very long. They’ll learn how to express themselves the longer they stay.”

“We’re really staying?” Army said. “We’re not going to go back to Homeworld?”

Pearl glanced at their ship, which was still fully functional, save for part of the controls that Garnet had removed. Amethyst had been all for smashing the console entirely, but Pearl insisted that you never knew when they might need a ship like that. “No,” she said. “You’re not going back to Homeworld.”

“I don’t want to go back, anyway,” Navy said. “I want to stay here with Lapis.”

Lapis smiled and reached down to pat her shoulder. “I want you to stay, too.”

“You’re staying,” Steven said. “You can all be Crystal Gems, too. Or not,” he added, when Army started to growl. “You can do whatever you want. Just as long as you stay on Earth.”

A sound from behind him made him turn around. Eyeball and Doc were coming out of the barn, hand in hand. Doc was smiling.

“We’re staying, everyone,” Doc announced. “Ruby and I discussed it and we decided it would be best… for all of us.” She paused. “Besides, Garnet said our ship is disabled. We can’t leave anyway.”

“Yay!” Navy said, and clutched at Lapis’s skirt, beaming up at her.

“Nuts,” grumbled Army, kicking at the ground. But she didn’t try to attack anyone, which was a step up.

Steven looked around himself. Though Army wasn’t exactly happy, everyone else was. Leggy had grabbed Peridot’s and Amethyst’s hands, and all three of them were beaming. Garnet still held Steven’s hand, and she was smiling, too. Lapis and Navy were looking at each other with what could only be described as gooey eyes, and Eyeball and Doc were still holding hands, even if Eyeball wasn’t exactly looking at anyone. She wasn’t, at least, glaring at Steven, which made for a nice change.

For the first time since he found out what had happened to Pink Diamond, Steven started to feel like everything was going to work out just fine.


End file.
